vncnus Page 439
Page 439
……
"Adventurers... does reality truly exist in this world?"
The three-legged fish stared blankly at Jennifer, then collapsed to the ground, hopping around a couple of times like a salted fish before falling silent.
"How come you're done after only thirty losses? You're such a noob."
Jennifer glanced around at the three-legged fish watching in utter shock, and asked with a smile:
"Is there anyone willing to take over for your boss?"
"Never mind, never mind..." The three-legged fish looked fearful and retreated one after another.
You should know that their leader was once an invincible three-legged fish. With just his three-legged skills, he made those weak shrimp and crabs who could only use their pincers admit defeat at the gambling table, thus winning a place for the shellless three-legged fish. He was known in the martial arts world as "Clumpy"!
Unexpectedly, this seemingly ordinary female knight defeated it with ease, even defeating thirty of them in a row... It was simply astonishing! She was like a city wall, suddenly blocking the way for all the three-legged fish, impossible to cross!
"Don't make things difficult for my underlings... I admit defeat."
The three-legged fish leader slowly got up, rubbed his head with difficulty, and sighed, "There are always heavens beyond heavens. Indeed, I still need to see more of the outside world like trash..."
"Trash?" Jennifer's face lit up with interest, and her fingers began to spin unconsciously again.
"I'm not fighting anymore! I'm giving you this message for free!"
The three-legged fish sat down on the ground in fear, shook its head, and said:
"Zha Zha is a mantis shrimp. Although we don't interact with mantis shrimp groups much, it's a rather special one..."
……
For the three-legged fish, which are not very good at exploring the wild, they will basically not leave the water unless necessary. However, they do fantasize about the outside world. After all, this body of water is only so big. Even if the lake is already crowded with fish, they cannot find a second safe body of water suitable for survival.
Zha Zha had been to the human world. This was something he mentioned to a three-legged fish in the water when he was bored and hiding from the Ball Monster in the Water Curtain Cave outside the tribe.
As a mantis shrimp, although it couldn't communicate normally with humans, it still learned a lot about human customs by running around and looking around. However, after the magic network nodes were laid down in the countryside, there were more and more mages everywhere, so the dregs had no choice but to return to the underground.
When the three-legged fish first encountered the mantis shrimp, with whom they had no conflicts, they naturally spread the word about the mantis shrimp out of curiosity. So later, when the three-legged fish saw the mantis shrimp in the wild waters, they would often take the initiative to talk to it.
After talking to them for a while, they learned that Zha Zha's habit of running around outside was not natural, but came from a hero from another tribe that it met when it was a child.
The hero held a straight sword that was flaming.
Chapter 426 The King's Son
"Hey, Lazi, we're back!"
Jennifer, seeing the tall man standing out even among the towering, wall-like monsters, excitedly ran forward. She noticed him examining several crudely made breastplates and couldn't help but ask curiously:
"What are you doing here? What are you holding in your hand?"
"Hey, Jennifer, you're back."
Latis glanced at the three jubilant knights, wondering what they had done to be so happy. He shook his head, weighed the breastplate in his hand, and said with a hint of sarcasm:
"This is a silver scale breastplate that a stall owner sold me; it's a fake."
"what?"
Jennifer raised an eyebrow and couldn't help but ask:
Why would you buy counterfeit goods?
"Because it's a tenfold refund if it's fake..."
Latis took a deep breath, rubbed his temples, and complained:
"However, all ten items that were replaced were fake... After the replacements were replaced, the shop owner ran away."
Jennifer burst out laughing, patted Latis on the shoulder hard, and whispered in his ear:
"No way, no way, Lazi actually stumbled in front of a monster? Looks like the great Jennifer needs to teach her a lesson!"
"Hmph, don't get cocky." Latis crossed his arms and raised his chin, saying, "We're going to the mantis shrimp's gathering place later, and that scumbag boss should be there too. He won't be able to escape then."
"Trash?"
Jennifer exclaimed in surprise and quickly asked:
"Is that the mantis shrimp Zha Zha who often goes on adventures in the wild?"
"Hmm? You heard people talking about it at the market too?"
Latis scratched his head, waved to the crowd, and said as he walked towards the area where the mantis shrimps gathered:
"During our conversation, we discovered that it was different from other monsters, so we inquired about it. The stall owners all said it was a 'black sheep' of the mantis shrimp race, very eccentric, and that the shrimp and crabs didn't really like it."
“I see.” Jennifer stroked her chin, chuckled, and said, “Guess what? I heard a different opinion from the three-legged fish group… Here, take this.”
"Eh?"
Latis frowned, took a glass of sweet algae juice from Jennifer, took a sip, and then stuck out his tongue, complaining:
"This is so sweet!"
"Don't throw it away, drink it all!" Jennifer said with a smile, putting her arm around Latis's shoulder. "This is a specialty juice from the Moss Tribe. How does it taste?"
Latis shook his head helplessly, downed the whole drink in one gulp, then smacked his lips with a slight frown and said:
"It tastes a bit like grass juice with jujubes added... but you're definitely the most delicious, Jie Jie."
"What...?" Jennifer glanced at Latis, who was chuckling, pinched his waist, and whispered:
"You've never had it before... um."
She coughed twice, her eyes darting around in Latis's stunned gaze, before abruptly changing the subject:
"By the way, that moss mantis shrimp named Zha Zha seems to have seen the monsters that came out of the moth tribe to travel."
"Huh? Really?" Latis was indeed drawn in, and he stroked his chin thoughtfully as he spoke:
"Hollnit said it seemed to recognize the Dream Nail, and if it had seen members of the Moth Tribe before, that would be quite possible."
Jennifer nodded slightly and said:
"In the three-legged fish's narration, Zha Zha mentioned several times a moth carrying a flaming straight sword. If I remember correctly, this should be the weapon carried by the 'fighter' of the moth tribe..."
……
……
"Welcome, Captain!"
The mantis shrimp squatted at the entrance of the gathering place. Seeing Latis and his group slowly approaching, it immediately beamed with joy and called out:
"The shrimps have all agreed to hire you to clean up the ball monster! They're still discussing the payment, but they should have a result soon!"
"Okay."
Latis glanced at the rather low doorway where the mantis shrimps gathered. Seeing the mantis shrimps squeeze in without any hindrance, he sighed helplessly, bent down, and barely managed to squeeze through the door frame.
Fortunately, the space was much more spacious after entering. The layout of the entire settlement was oval. Apart from the central hall and two corridors, all the rooms were arranged radially along the edge of the oval. Although the rooms were long and narrow, they were just right for the size of the shrimp monsters. At first glance, you could see that about four or five moss mantis shrimps shared a room, which was a very crowded living environment.
The mantis shrimp glanced at the few long-whiskered old shrimp still discussing in the hall and whispered:
“Those are the managers of the mantis shrimp, and also the old captains of the gathering team. They are still discussing the reward. I will take you to find some empty rooms first.”
"okay."
Latis looked around and stroked his chin. The environment of this settlement was much better than he had imagined. Although there was a lot of noise from the monsters, it was still quite clean. In fact, due to their symbiotic relationship with moss and lichen, there were some scattered plants inside the settlement, which looked like small potted plants.
The group found the most spacious empty room in the corner. They originally wanted the girls to stay in another room, but there were no adjacent empty rooms, and it was a bit unsafe for them to be separated. To be on the safe side, they decided to stay together for the night.
While looking for a room, Latis asked the mantis shrimp about the whereabouts of Zha Zha. The mantis shrimp did recognize the unpopular mantis shrimp, but unexpectedly, it was also unsure where Zha Zha was staying.
It turns out that, in addition to this collective settlement, some individuals also live scattered throughout the tribe, perhaps building their own houses among the mounds. However, since the king would levy additional property taxes on such houses, most of the mantis shrimps still live in the large dormitory in the settlement.
However, this does not affect Zha Zha's whereabouts. Although it has no money to pay property tax, it does not build houses. Sometimes it just finds a place to lie down on the sand, using the sky as its blanket and the ground as its bed, spending the night without caring at all.
Latis was somewhat helpless, but upon closer reflection, the existence of the scumbag or not wouldn't prevent them from directly searching for the Demon King, so even though he was curious about the whereabouts of that moth warrior, he had no choice but to put his curiosity aside for the time being.
After everyone settled down, Latis took out some food and desserts from the dimensional rift and distributed them to his teammates. It was rare that there were no underground turbulences near the Moss Tribe, so the dimensional rift could be opened, and they took this opportunity to have a good meal.
Of course, Latis didn't forget to send some egg tarts to the two little ones, Geeta and Leafa, as well as to Snyder, the poor kid who had never tasted desserts before. Although the stored desserts were far inferior in taste to freshly baked ones, they still instantly won over the girls' stomachs.
Aside from Holnett, this Dark Knight's sense of taste was like a black hole. No matter what flavor he ate, he wouldn't even flinch. Even the hot sauce that Latis had stored away couldn't pry Holnett's tongue open. It was just like Latist during his previous life as a corporate slave who got food poisoning, with only a pure desire to survive.
Latis secretly planned that once this matter was over, he must take Holnet to the surface to eat the "Sorrowful and Delicious" fried rice, which contained the essence of his endless culinary skills.
How could there be someone in the world who doesn't like to eat anything?
He shook his head, glanced at the three girls who had removed their armor and were huddled in the innermost part of the room, and the two great knights who were leaning against the wall and beginning their prayers and cultivation, then walked out of the room alone and looked at the mantis shrimp at the door.
Although he couldn't quite make out the expressions on the shrimp's faces, he could deduce from the appearance of the mantis shrimp that the old shrimp had finally come to a conclusion.
……
"The king doesn't like this, and we can't publicize it."
"Now the moss tribe is gradually starting to grow the plants it needs for living inside, and its need for external exploration is gradually decreasing."
"Eliminating the Ball Monsters is a good idea, but we can't be sure if there's an even bigger threat behind them."
"If the Ball Monster is just an ordinary monster in the middle ecological niche, and clearing it out will introduce more advanced monsters, then we might as well maintain a dynamic balance with the Ball Monster. After all, although the Ball Monster is difficult to deal with, its fighting spirit is not that strong."
"The younger members of the gathering team say you want to conquer the Demon King. I still advise you to give up this idea. Otherwise, if you get controlled by the Demon King, won't we be the ones suffering?"
"You've only lost one life, but we've had our chance to live in peace with the Demon King ruined!"
The old shrimp chattered on and on, while Latis crossed his arms and frowned. He soon realized that they didn't seem to be looking forward to what would happen after the Demon King was defeated.
"But, but!" The mantis shrimp couldn't sit still any longer and shouted, "Our gathering team has been attacked by the ball monster so many times! The bone-gathering fruit from the three-legged fish is getting harder and harder to buy. If this continues, all the members of the gathering team will be injured!"
“Then we can only put pressure on the three-legged fish,” an old shrimp said, stroking its long whiskers. “It just so happens that the three-legged fish never participate in outings foraging, so it’s time for them to contribute a little more.”
"How could this be the result..." the mantis shrimp murmured with a mournful face.
"Wait a minute." Latis scratched his head and raised his hand to ask:
"So in the end you're not planning to get rid of the Ball Monsters? And you're even going to stop us from defeating the Demon King?"
The old shrimps exchanged glances, chuckled, and said:
"That's not true. We can't control you outsiders. We're just reminding you that there are certain dangers in fighting the Demon King, and you can't guarantee your own safety. As for clearing out the ball monsters... we support them in principle, but please forgive us for only being able to provide support other than actual assistance."
"Okay, I understand now."